Althea
Althea told me...........
Interesting. I think I've done that accidentally with spaghetti squash. One downside of bush type summer squash...no real vine to cut with the fruit.
Garden...
- Thread starter leaningright
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Irish Exit
Verified User
Mine don't get nearly that big, but I grow them every 3 years or so to make bird houses out of the ones that are suitable bottoms with a good neck on them. i just dry them, take a razor knife to create a doorway, get the dried guts out, and bind them with cord and hang them about. The others I just pile up and eventually harvest the seeds or put them out as decor around Halloween through Christmas and compost. Never really had a mold issue with them. I usually leave them on the vine until dead to maximize size and toss the early departures in one of the many vacant hanging baskets I usually have about. I get every cheap plastic hanging basket I can get my hands on to use as pots for pass-along plants. Often they are former fern pots put out by roadsides in the fall.
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
Just a couple of pics.... a basket of goodies just picked this evening; the bird bath my husband got me for my birthday at an art show. The peas are winding down and will be pulled soon. Hot peppers, squash, and black beans are doing great in the hoop house. Tomatoes are just starting to ripen. Onions are almost ready to be pulled. Harvested all the garlic late last month; it's been put up for winter. Will be planting both onions and garlic again this fall; they seem to overwinter very well here. Scarlet runners are doing great out in the beds; the hummingbirds are our guest pollinators this year!
How are your gardens doing in late summer?
How are your gardens doing in late summer?
I’m getting about a gallon of okra every two days, still getting summer squash (both yellow and scalloped), a few tomatoes. I pulled up the whippoorwill pea vines last week. Overall I canned 24 qts of the whippoorwill peas besides the 7 pounds I put up dry. Elderberry was the latest jelly I made. In October when the pears get ready I plan to make pear jelly and pear mincemeat. School has started and my gardening and canning will take a back seat to ball games and math lessons.
My son an I helped dad pick his biggest watermelon one Wednesday evening after church.
Elderberry jelly making process...good stuff there.
They make a very pretty jelly.
My son an I helped dad pick his biggest watermelon one Wednesday evening after church.
Elderberry jelly making process...good stuff there.
They make a very pretty jelly.
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
Good grief... that watermelon should have its own zip code!!!! Was it good?
It was actually very good for such a big melon. It weighed 88 lbs.
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
Sounds like a state fair winner! Your elderberry jelly looks amazing.
Irish Exit
Verified User
My second planting of yellow squash is coming in, second run of greenbeans grown but not setting flowers yet. Second planting of zukes growing but not blooming yet. Tomatoes are starting to produce some now that the temps are back down into the 80's. Late corn is about waist high (which is fine since early corn barely germinated). Fall lettuce starting to poke up. First bloom this week on the mums so fall is acoming (Didn't pinch these ones back). May try to start some fall cabbages indoors. Cabbage just doesn't do well for me but I keep experimenting with it. Need to seed some rocket for fall as well. Starting to gather in some garlic bulbs for the fall plant as well, but that is still a couple months away on those.
Hot peppers well good lord I have plenty of those and picking them just creates even more of them. They will produce all the way through the frost which is about the last week of October usually. They were the first to produce and will be the last to produce. If I could figure out how to monetize them, Bezos would be push mowing my lawn while Gates did the trim work.
Hot peppers well good lord I have plenty of those and picking them just creates even more of them. They will produce all the way through the frost which is about the last week of October usually. They were the first to produce and will be the last to produce. If I could figure out how to monetize them, Bezos would be push mowing my lawn while Gates did the trim work.
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
Maybe we should work on repealing that law of supply and demand? lol
Your adventures with more than one planting are interesting.... we're lucky to get just one in up here. Cabbages did terrible last year. Well, they grew well; we had a cool and rainy summer. But the slugs messed them up.
I've got onion bulbs and garlic on order for fall planting; those guys did great!
Irish Exit
Verified User
I just pick mine up locally. Our last frost date is usually the third week of April, and first frost day the last week of October. With protection, most years we can grow well into December before it gets too dicey. Some things like mustard/turnips/greens we can grow in the open all winter as long as a heavy snow doesn't sit on them. I don't do much between Christmas and March other than bide time with what is already out there, but if forced to, I could during those months. I just prefer to spend those months crock potting all the stuff in the freezer while napping to make room for next season. Well actually I use that time for prep, brush clearing, new bed building, tree cutting type projects but I don't have to be in any hurry about it.
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
Sometimes on a sad news weekend like this one, it's soothing to just go hang out with the plants, bees, and birds in the gardens. Tonight we're having home-made spaghetti sauce made from things grown here.... the tomatoes, onions, garlic, oregano, basil, even the shrooms. The only thing not home-grown is the Italian sausage in the meatballs (which are also hand-crafted by myself). Need to learn how to make pasta next! Anyone make their own? Have any tips/tricks?
Irish Exit
Verified User
I've made my own pasta. We have both the hand crank type machine and the mixer attachment. The trick is just buying it
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
I've made my own pasta. We have both the hand crank type machine and the mixer attachment. The trick is just buying it
Smart ass. lol
Irish Exit
Verified User
You asked for tips and tricks. You need about two people with 8 arms each to do it properly. Unless you are doing something like custom fillings for ravioli or tortellini it is easier just to buy it. Nestle's Buitoni Pasta is a decent approximation of home-made. If you want to persist in trying it, you need to do your ingredient measurements by weight and not volume.
Althea
Althea told me...........
September here
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
I sense discouragement. lol Used to go down to Soulards in STL to the farmers market on Sat. There was a lady who had a booth who sold the best hand-made spaghetti noodles, whole wheat and black pepper.
Where I pulled up my pea vines a couple of weeks ago I have pea vines sprouting up all over. We had lots of dried peas on the vines when we pulled them and several shook out on the ground. Then we had 10 inches of rain followed by warm temps making it ideal for sprouting and growing. They’re about 8-9 inches tall. I think I’ll let them grow and see if they make peas before frost here.
Irish Exit
Verified User
If you want to try it, then try it. I was just extending the courtesy of truth. Some mistakes people are bound to make on their own so have at it. At least you can say your tried it.